Dataset Information

Requirement of a mitogen-activated protein kinase for appressorium formation and penetration of insect cuticle by the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

ABSTRACT: Beauveria bassiana is an important insect-pathogenic fungus that invades insects by direct penetration of the host cuticle. To delineate the molecular mechanisms involved in fungal infection, a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) gene, Bbmpk1, which encodes a YERK1 family MAPK was isolated and characterized. Targeted gene disruption of Bbmpk1 resulted in a complete loss of virulence when applied topically to host insects but did not affect growth of the fungus when conidia were injected directly into the hemocoel. Hyphae of the mutant strain growing in the insect hemocoel were unable to penetrate the cuticle growing outwards and consequently failed to sporulate on the cadaver surface. These data suggest that BbMPK1 is essential for penetration of the insect cuticle both from the outside and from the inside-out in order to escape and disperse from the host. Inactivation of BbMPK1 also caused a significant decrease in fungal adhesion to insect cuticles and eliminated their ability to form appressoria. In order to identify downstream genes regulated by BbMPK1, a suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) library was generated comparing mutant and wild-type transcripts isolated during appressorium formation. Thirty-one genes screened from the SSH library were determined to be expressed in the wild-type strain but either significantly reduced or not expressed in the mutant. Ten genes showed high or medium similarity to known protein encoding genes, including proteins involved in cell surface hydrophobicity, lipid metabolism, microtubule dynamics, mitochondrial electron transport, chromatin remodeling, transcription, rRNA processing, small nucleolar RNA accumulation, oxidation of aldehydes, translation, and likely other cellular processes.

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2849248 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Requirement of a mitogen-activated protein kinase for appressorium formation and penetration of insect cuticle by the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

Zhang Yongjun Y Zhang Jianqing J Jiang Xiaodong X Wang Guijiang G Luo Zhibing Z Fan Yanhua Y Wu Zengqiang Z Pei Yan Y

Applied and environmental microbiology 20100205 7

Beauveria bassiana is an important insect-pathogenic fungus that invades insects by direct penetration of the host cuticle. To delineate the molecular mechanisms involved in fungal infection, a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) gene, Bbmpk1, which encodes a YERK1 family MAPK was isolated and characterized. Targeted gene disruption of Bbmpk1 resulted in a complete loss of virulence when applied topically to host insects but did not affect growth of the fungus when conidia were injected dire ...[more]

PMID: 20139313

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Project description:Mosquito immunity studies have focused mainly on characterizing immune effector mechanisms elicited against parasites, bacteria and more recently, viruses. However, those elicited against entomopathogenic fungi remain poorly understood, despite the ubiquitous nature of these microorganisms and their unique invasion route that bypasses the midgut epithelium, an important immune tissue and physical barrier. Here, we used the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae as a model to investigate the role of melanization, a potent immune effector mechanism of arthropods, in mosquito defense against the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, using in vivo functional genetic analysis and confocal microscopy. The temporal monitoring of fungal growth in mosquitoes injected with B. bassiana conidia showed that melanin eventually formed on all stages, including conidia, germ tubes and hyphae, except the single cell hyphal bodies. Nevertheless, melanin rarely aborted the growth of any of these stages and the mycelium continued growing despite being melanized. Silencing TEP1 and CLIPA8, key positive regulators of Plasmodium and bacterial melanization in A. gambiae, abolished completely melanin formation on hyphae but not on germinating conidia or germ tubes. The detection of a layer of hemocytes surrounding germinating conidia but not hyphae suggested that melanization of early fungal stages is cell-mediated while that of late stages is a humoral response dependent on TEP1 and CLIPA8. Microscopic analysis revealed specific association of TEP1 with surfaces of hyphae and the requirement of both, TEP1 and CLIPA8, for recruiting phenoloxidase to these surfaces. Finally, fungal proliferation was more rapid in TEP1 and CLIPA8 knockdown mosquitoes which exhibited increased sensitivity to natural B. bassiana infections than controls. In sum, the mosquito melanization response retards significantly B. bassiana growth and dissemination, a finding that may be exploited to design transgenic fungi with more potent bio-control activities against mosquitoes.

Project description:Broad host range entomopathogenic fungi such as Beauveria bassiana attack insect hosts via attachment to cuticular substrata and the production of enzymes for the degradation and penetration of insect cuticle. The outermost epicuticular layer consists of a complex mixture of non-polar lipids including hydrocarbons, fatty acids, and wax esters. Long chain hydrocarbons are major components of the outer waxy layer of diverse insect species, where they serve to protect against desiccation and microbial parasites, and as recognition molecules or as a platform for semiochemicals. Insect pathogenic fungi have evolved mechanisms for overcoming this barrier, likely with sets of lipid degrading enzymes with overlapping substrate specificities. Alkanes and fatty acids are substrates for a specific subset of fungal cytochrome P450 monooxygenases involved in insect hydrocarbon degradation. These enzymes activate alkanes by terminal oxidation to alcohols, which are further oxidized by alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases, whose products can enter ?-oxidation pathways. B. bassiana contains at least 83 genes coding for cytochrome P450s (CYP), a subset of which are involved in hydrocarbon oxidation, and several of which represent new CYP subfamilies/families. Expression data indicated differential induction by alkanes and insect lipids and four CYP proteins have been partially characterized after heterologous expression in yeast. Gene knockouts revealed a phenotype for only one (cyp52X1) out of six genes examined to date. CYP52X1 oxidizes long chain fatty acids and participates in the degradation of specific epicuticular lipid components needed for breaching the insect waxy layer. Examining the hydrocarbon oxidizing CYP repertoire of pathogens involved in insect epicuticle degradation can lead to the characterization of enzymes with novel substrate specificities. Pathogen targeting may also represent an important co-evolutionary process regarding insect cuticular hydrocarbon synthesis.

Dataset Information

Requirement of a mitogen-activated protein kinase for appressorium formation and penetration of insect cuticle by the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

Publications

Requirement of a mitogen-activated protein kinase for appressorium formation and penetration of insect cuticle by the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.

Similar Datasets

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